Language Resource Center

Last Tuesday, I finally got the chance to go talk with John at the University of Reading Language Resource Center. He seemed a bit skeptical of me helping at all in any of the classes, but thought I might be able to observe a few. Since Wednesdays are lecture days (all the students in the English program attend a lecture, take notes, and then complete a project related to the lecture) he invited me to come back Wednesday to observe and meet a few teachers.

Wednesday was great. I was sent to observe Jonathan's class. There was an hour prep class to introduce vocabulary and get the students thinking on the topic (family structure in the West), then everyone was herded to a lecture hall for a two hour lecture. The fellow who gave the lecture is a university professor in London, and it was definitely not toned down for language learners (though the topic itself was accessible).

During the break following the lecture, I went to get a coffee with two other teachers. It was really nice to actually sit and talk with people. I learned more about the program, too. Apparently the majority of students who enter the program are planning on starting a post-baccalaureate program (Masters or PhD). The current session is a pre-session designed to get students who are accepted at the university up to speed with academic language. At least, I think that's what the story is. I'm still not completely clear - I just know this program is not their regular language program.

After coffee, I met up with Jonathan again and sat with one of the groups as they compared notes and tried to recall details and answer questions that had been prepared after the lecture. It was nice working with the students, and I got to see a SmartBoard in action. A SmartBoard is like a white board in appearance but it is connected to the computer. You can project the computer screen on the board and use your finger on it like a mouse, or write on it and save the image so the writing scrolls up and down. Its hard to describe, but we just got one at OSU and we were just getting lessons on how to use it when I left for England. Seeing them in action is giving me all kinds of ideas for when I get back, though.

There has been some talk of setting me up as a pronunciation tutor outside of classes, but I don't know if that will happen or not. I joked with Jonathan that I was surprised he would let an American teach pronunciation, to which he responded, "well, its not like you have a Texas accent." I'm going in again this afternoon to observe/help in Jonathan's Listening/Speaking class and afterwards, John said he would have talked with the other teachers and put together a list of classes I could attend. I should have my schedule figured out by this evening. Hooray!